"Ugh…"

Both Melina and Adrian lay in the dirt, panting from the latest training session that I put them through. I gave them a sympathetic look, but I didn't intend on making my lessons easier. However, I was nice enough to offer them my hands and pulled them both back to their feet.

"Are you two all right?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Yeah, Master."

"Stop calling me that, Adrian." I failed to keep the irritation out of my voice. "I am not your master."

"You're not my brother either, but you don't mind if I address you as such," Adrian pointed out cheekily. I gave him a glare.

"Do you want me to double your training hours?"

"N…no!" Adrian immediately turned pale, dropping his wooden sword. He gulped and scrambled to pick it up and shook his head frantically. "Sorry, Brother Richard! I was just joking!"

"Yeah, I got that." I smiled somewhat insincerely, and then turned serious. "In any event, the both of you should go get some rest. Tomorrow is your practical exam, so don't overdo it today. Getting as much sleep as possible is the best way to ensure that you're in your prime condition tomorrow. Don't sneak off and do extra training on your own – I don't want you to use that as an excuse when you turn up all exhausted and injured, and don't perform as well on the practical exam as you normally would be able to."

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Understood, Master! Uh, Brother Richard!"

Adrian quickly amended his terms of address when I raised an eyebrow at him, and he felt the immense pressure from my surging aura. Deciding to cut him some slack for now, I gestured for the both of them to return to the house.

"Now go shower, have some supper, and then sleep early for tonight."

The two of them obliged, and I watched them go. Then I turned away, and proceeded in the opposite direction. Instead of returning to the house, I vaulted over the fence and landed on the other side of the estate. Summoning Cygnus, I jumped atop him and had my white swan fly me toward the outskirts of the city, to an area next to Saint Teresa Academy. It was a ma.s.sive park, with wide open area decorated with green gra.s.s, with several footpaths and cycling paths paved across it. Several trees stood sentinel over the gra.s.s, but they were spa.r.s.e.

It being very late at night, I couldn't see the flowers very clearly, particularly with their hues covered by shadows. Even so, zooming onto one of the flowers, I was reminded of the blue flower symbol of the Guang Zhi Yi Sect. having seen the flower this morning, I had suspected that they planned on carrying out some form of activity tonight.

Me being the typical busybody and allowing my curiosity to get the better of me, I decided to check it out. I mean, I had nothing better to do…okay, actually I did. There was a practical exam tomorrow, but I really, really wanted to know what the Guang Zhi Yi Sect was planning. There was no way they would summon Ji Yan over a trivial matter.

The park was where I sensed the presences of four pretty strong mages. That was why I chose to settle down here, not far from where I detected the four mages. Two of them in particular were very familiar. They were the auras of Ji Yan's mana signature, as well as the almost identical but slightly different power that wreathed her twin sister, Zhao Yan. They were accompanied by two other students who I didn't recognize.

Dismissing Cygnus as quickly as possible, I shrank my own mana to an almost invisible presence. Since I wasn't trained in the arts of stealth or a.s.sa.s.sination, I wasn't able to quite conceal my own mana completely, and as such I had to rely on external devices such as the ones Melina received from her father. I had bought my own with what little money I had, shortly after returning home from the tournament, and it proved to be very useful.

The four mages didn't notice that I was present in the park at all. Excellent. Additionally, they were too busy doing whatever they came to do to even notice that I was here. Feeling relieved, I shut my eyes and summoned a couple of Corvus before activating the stealth device. The two crows then took off and began their duties as my eyes and ears.

One of my Corvus focused on the other two individuals, to try and discern their ident.i.ties.

The leader appeared to be a tall, handsome guy with long, silver hair and gray eyes. Typical shoujo manga male lead, or at least one of the harem members for the female protagonist. Anyway, I was surprised that I recognized him as a third year student in Saint Teresa Academy. If I recalled correctly, he was a heartthrob named Yi Shen, who was idolized by the same girls now swooning over Xu Wu Cheng. As befitting the typical bishounen character, he had for some reason decided to grow his silver hair long, just so he could fit the archetype and drive fangirls crazy with his pretty boy looks. It must have something to do with the male idol era back in the early 2000s where F4 and Vanness Wu ruled the Taiwanese drama scene.

Never mind that his absurdly long hair would most likely get in the way of him fighting monsters, and the excessive length would frequently block his sight or get caught by something, making it a liability in battle. But then again, the girls also usually kept their hair long as well, and no one ever complained about such hairstyles being highly impractical in real combat.

The second person was a girl, because it wouldn't be a manga or proper web novel if the girls didn't outnumber the guys. And…as if to fulfil some sort of fanservice quota, she was a pretty girl with long (again!) silky red hair that flowed behind her back. Um…I believe she was a senior in the third year as well, just like Yi Shen, and her name was Kai Lin or something.

Even more hilariously, none of the four were dressed in attires suitable for practical combat. No, rather they were all dressed stylishly in cool clothing that wouldn't look out of place in a fas.h.i.+on magazine. Yi Shen, with his trendy jacket and long pants, could still pa.s.s off as acceptable in combat, but the girls wore exquisite dresses that seemed more appropriate in modelling events or cosplay conventions. I mean, who wears a skirt to kick a.s.s? Seriously?

Zhao Yan was the only one who bucked the trend, wearing featureless slacks instead of the frilly skirt her sister wore, or the business-like office lady attire that Kai Lin adopted (and Kai Lin even wore high-heels…seriously?!). At least the twins wore functional boots…wait, I take that back. For some reason, Ji Yan was wearing flashy, fas.h.i.+onable shoes that seemed suited more for a tea party than a battle instead of the practical, leather boots that her sister had chosen.

Were these fools (except Zhao Yan) here to show off their wardrobe and how awesome looking they were, or were they here to fight?

The first words I heard from Yi Shen's mouth confirmed that it was the latter, but they were so cheesy that I was pretty much groaning and burying my face in my hands.

"There have been many bat-type monsters here, and they're attacking humans lately. Recently they've been targeting the school, so we've been tasked to eliminate them."

Who the f.u.c.k talks like that?! I know the original writer of Vampire Sphere was trying to contrive a way to inform the reader the context through exposition, but the dialogue was way too unnatural and cheesy. For one thing, wouldn't the leader brief the entire team before they start moving out to the battlefield, and not when they reach it? Why did you wait until the very last minute before briefing your teammates?

Kai Lin folded her arms as she considered Yi Shen's briefing.

"Bat-type monsters normally aren't this bold. They should know that it's suicidal to attack Saint Teresa Academy directly. Do you think there's some kind of trap or plot behind their raid?"

Like I said…save this kind of discussion before you enter the battlefield, not when you're already on it. Shouldn't you be watching out for the bats instead of standing around casually and talking so loudly in such a wide, open s.p.a.ce where sound could easily travel unimpeded?

Seriously, are these mages f.u.c.king amateurs?

Fortunately, it didn't take them long to realize that they should be on the lookout, and they stopped their conversation and flashy movements for a second to watch for enemies. Zhao Yan glanced around, her expression uneasy as she cleched her fists anxiously.

"It's been almost a year since we've joined the Guang Zhi Yi Sect…I hope we'll accomplish the mission safely and without casualties this time as well…"

Zhao Yan was actually whispering to herself, so softly that even my Corvus had to strain to pick up her faint words despite his acute sense of hearing. Evidently she and her sister had been through several grueling battles throughout the past year, and her sentiments matched her practical attire. On the other hand, her sister was…well, the less said about the amateur who was more interested in cosplay than fighting, the better.

"Bat-type monsters, huh?"

I shook my head, feeling annoyed. The four of them couldn't even be bothered to identify the exact species of bat-type monsters, and merely referred to them generally as such. There were so many bat-type monsters in existence, and I wished they could at least provide a clue as to what they were facing. They ranged from the tiny rank F Swarm Bats to the rank C Vampire Bats capable of using blood magic. While you couldn't underestimate the rank F Swarm Bats and I wasn't going to make the mistake of claiming that one was weaker than the other, it was a given that you needed completely different tactics to fight against each type of bat monsters.

"They're here. Get ready!"

A flurry of movement at my Corvus's peripheral vision confirmed Yi Shen's warning. I suppressed the urge to disguise myself as Batman and pop out of the shadows to scare the living h.e.l.l out of both friends and foes, knowing that it wasn't my turn to step up to bat yet.

Besides, I was still exhausted from the Spartan training session I had just gone through with Adrian and Melina, so I would be pretty useless in combat until I recovered enough mana. That was why I decided to sit back and enjoy the show…except that it wasn't enjoyable. From the moment I saw their tacky outfits, I should have known that something was up…

To compound my exasperation, the four of them made quite a show to draw their weapons. Hey, hey! You guys aren't posing for some magical girl anime, you know? There was no need for one panel per person. Why so dramatic?!

That wasn't the worst thing.

To my chagrin, Yi Shen drew two guns, each a sleekly designed silver revolver with fancy symbols grafted on its metallic surface, and began firing both pistols at the same time.

Yup. You read that right. Yi Shen was firing two pistols simultaneously.

It might look cool, but it was highly impractical and ridiculous. I mean, how the h.e.l.l does he aim? There's a reason why the police and soldiers were trained to fire only one firearm at a time! It's impossible for you to aim down the sights of two guns at the same time! The only time you would do that was if you fired from the hip.

Okay, some people might give the excuse that Yi Shen was using some sort of auto-aim spell. I certainly could implement such a function on my gla.s.ses – so instead of requiring to stare down the sights of either firearm, I could track both targeting reticles that were displayed holographically on my lenses. That was how I took aim with my arrows sometimes.

However, as much as I wanted to allow Yi Shen that excuse, his aim was totally off. Despite firing into a ma.s.s of monsters where it would be impossible to not hit anything, he actually missed more than half his shots. Yeah, more than half his shots. His horrendous aim put even the most inaccurate of Stormtroopers to shame. h.e.l.l, even Orks with their ballistic skill of 5+ had better aim than Yi Shen!

And if you were going to miss half of your shots anyway, why not just stick to using one freaking pistol and actually put in the effort to aim properly?!

The only saving grace was the power of Yi Shen's shots. When they did hit, they obliterated the monsters instantly, blowing them up into shreds of flesh and blood. Speaking of which, the monsters turned out to be tiny Swarm Bats, each no bigger than the palm of my hand, with razor-sharp wings stretching out of their ball-like bodies. Claws and fangs gleamed in the darkness, illuminated by their red eyes, but they were almost blind, relying instead on supersonic senses and superb hearing from their pointy ears.

The guy was strong, no doubt. If he would just throw away one gun and aimed properly, he would actually be a force to be reckoned with. The mana he exuded was tremendous, and even though he missed half his targets, he was swift and agile, dodging every one of the speedy Swarm Bats' attacks. His movements were polished, I had to admit. No wasted movement there, minimal repositioning and lightning fast reflexes.

The next issue that bugged me was Kai Lin. Okay, so she was extracting a whip from her belt in an unnecessarily big move that belonged more to theater than real-life combat, but she was quick to lash out at the incoming Swarm Bats. With much more success than her leader. I'll give her that.

But her movements…oh, heavens! Her movements!

I could only shake my head as Kai Lin stumbled atop a fence surrounding the park, having used the narrow metal structure as a platform for her already notoriously unstable footing. If she didn't bring her high heels to heel soon, or better yet, ditch them altogether, she was going to hurt her feet. Actually, I could already see the significant amount of damage her high heels were dealing to her feet. Is looking good worth injuring your feet and placing your life at risk in the middle of a battle?

Well, at least she was giving the Swarm Bats a whipping. Her golden whip curled and flicked out, slicing through the tiny monsters with razor-sharp mana that coated the deadly leather. Her performance was coming at a cost, though. Thanks to Corvus, I could see the blisters and swelling on her feet, underneath those stupidly fancy shoes.

And the last was…Ji Yan.

Her frilly dress was nowhere near appropriate for combat. h.e.l.l, she looked like she should be going for a tea party in a western-styled manor than fighting in a park against monsters. Her mana was impressive, as was the other three's, but that was the extent of their combat abilities.

In battle, she was far worse than the impractical Kai Lin or even the horribly inaccurate Yi Shen. She was b.u.mbling with her attacks, and even though she succeeded in taking down many of the Swarm Bats thanks to her strong strikes with her chain and hooks, several managed to evade her extending chain and dove through the opening to get to her.

Why the f.u.c.k was she wielding such an unwieldy weapon to begin with!?

"This is bad!"

Ji Yan realized the danger she was in when she wasn't able to retract her weapon in time to defend against the attack. Before she knew it, the Swarm Bats were upon her, their slavering jaws open to sink their fangs into her soft flesh…